


The Least I Can Do Is Thank You

by jane_x80



Series: It all started with the hiccups [3]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Established Relationship, Kittens, M/M, Music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:20:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27966707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jane_x80/pseuds/jane_x80
Summary: Tony wakes up on Christmas morning, happy with his life for once. He sings the song he wrote for the one who has enriched his life and brought such joy and happiness.ForDay 9 of the 2020 Happy Holidays Challenge on LiveJournal, the theme is Holiday Music. A story in collaboration with Red_Pink_Dots and her gorgeous artwork.
Relationships: Anthony DiNozzo/Jethro Gibbs
Series: It all started with the hiccups [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/853156
Comments: 29
Kudos: 86





	The Least I Can Do Is Thank You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cutsycat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/gifts), [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Art for The Least I Can Do Is Thank You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27939764) by [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/pseuds/Red_Pink_Dots). 



> This is the third collaboration of the Happy Holidays Challenge that I did with ma tres chere amie [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/pseuds/Red_Pink_Dots). And this is also a gift for [cutsycat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat). I know it doesn't make up for all of the birthdays that I have not been able to write you a story for, but hopefully, this will be a start and you'll enjoy this story. And look! It has a cat!
> 
> As always, RPD made the kind of artwork that just makes me so happy and just so perfectly fits the story. Thank you, my Elton ❤️💋❤️
> 
> The song that Tony sings in this story is one by Pentatonix, called [Thank You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1IeDyG-pgM) and the title comes from a portion of the lyrics, in fact the very last lines of the song. Thank you to RPD for all the help with choosing titles, too.  
>  _I can't believe_  
>  _This year you've got me through_  
>  _ **The least I can do**_  
>  _ **Is thank you**_

[](https://i.imgur.com/IPY9gCb.png)

Tony awakened slowly, curled up around a warm body that was way better than any hot water bottle. He sighed, nuzzling into the soft hair at the back of his companion’s neck, happy that they were still in bed together. Too often he woke up alone since he was not the one who tended to awaken at the crack of dawn. But maybe because it was Christmas, Tony was getting the lovely treat of waking up together.

He kept his movements slow and gentle, smiling when he heard the annoyed huff come from his bedmate. It was adorable. Tony couldn’t believe just how attached he was to him, just how much he loved him. It was something that he had never thought would happen to him, but here he was, completely besotted and perfectly happy to be a slave to his companion’s every desire. It made Tony happy to do things that he knew made him happy.

Not that it had necessarily been an easy year. They had had their challenges; fights that only stopped short of drawing blood at times, certainly loud verbal exchanges, and arguments about some of the dumbest things, arguments that sometimes made Tony question his own sanity. But afterwards, after the guy had cooled down, he would come by and want to just be with him, rubbing himself all over Tony as if in wordless apology while doing everything he could to mark Tony to be his, so that anyone who came by would not question who Tony’s heart belonged to. It was well known that he didn’t believe in apologies – Tony had certainly never heard a verbal apology from him – so Tony understood the gestures that were made in lieu of it. And even if he wanted to, it was really difficult to take it personally because the affection that he showed when he was sorry was genuine and certainly better than any empty apology made just because people were taught to say the words, even if they didn’t mean it. So, Tony didn’t hold that against him in any way. There were rules about it, after all.

And it really was all worth it. His little smile, the private one that was only for Tony, warmed Tony’s heart, more than a fire. More than even cowboy steaks cooked over the fire. And Tony _loved_ cowboy steaks. The usually unexpressive face could be surprisingly emotive when he wanted it to be, something not too many people knew. Most people only ever saw that grumpy exterior and his piercing death glare. Tony was one of the lucky ones to be allowed to see it all, to have made it past all of his natural defenses and to see the core of who he was as an individual. And who he was amazing to Tony.

Their relationship had progressed such that even their emotions were interlinked. His companion’s happiness had the power to make Tony happy, and vice versa. But Tony’s personality had always been such that he was usually the one absorbing the strong emotions and reacting to it – call it a gift of growing up with an alcoholic mother and an abusive father, he had had to be good at reading people and their moods from a young age and react appropriately to minimize damage to himself. Even though he knew that it wasn’t necessarily the healthiest way to be, it was the only way he knew to do it. It had been how he had been raised. But at least now, it was reciprocal. His own emotions were also reflected back to himself with the kind of empathy and acceptance that he had never ever had before. It was everything that he had ever wanted in his life, and he had never ever felt so fulfilled before, so accepted and seen for who he was instead of who he pretended to be. His companion might not have said the words, but every day he showed Tony how he felt, and he made Tony feel loved.

So yes, when his love was happy, it was infectious and affected Tony. It made Tony himself just as happy when he was happy. It was maybe a little disturbing how much power he had over Tony’s emotional state, how much control Tony had given up to share his life with him, but that was the price one paid for embracing love whole-heartedly, Tony guessed. And it was a price worth paying, and a price he would gladly keep paying. Tony knew that he could put his trust in him and that that trust would never be betrayed.

If Tony had had a bad day at work, it made Tony feel good to come home and not have to deal with his problems all by himself. Now that he was sharing his life with someone, his house which had used to just be a sanctuary, now felt like a _home_. He always felt so much better when he came home and was able to talk through things with someone so accepting of him and feel as if he was heard. As if his opinion was valuable. He felt as though his every move was supported now that they had found each other. He knew that if he fell, he would be helped back up, as many times as he needed to be picked up, and he wouldn’t have to face things alone again.

After a few minutes of enjoying each other’s company, Tony trying to caress and pet him awake with no success, Tony got out of bed, did his morning ablutions, and decided that he would serenade his special someone with his Christmas present. Maybe that would get him out of bed on this quiet, lazy Christmas morning. Tony’s love wasn’t the kind of guy who was easily impressed with material things, he had simple tastes and made no bones about it, so for Christmas Tony had written a song for him. One that hopefully put in words his feelings for everything that he felt. And afterwards, he had planned an extra special Christmas meal that was sure to please even his picky, all meat, hold the vegetables palate. Everything would be made from scratch, which he knew was something he enjoyed and something Tony rarely had time to indulge him in, what with how demanding work tended to be for them all.

After being done in the bathroom and on his way out of the bedroom, Tony caressed his warm body gently, not truly wanting to disturb his slumber as he looked so comfortable, and he leaned down and dropped a soft kiss on the top of his head. Then, clad only in his pajama pants, he went out to the living room, leaving the door to the bedroom wide open. He started the coffeemaker going because god forbid if there was no coffee in the house when it was the fuel that made things go. That would be an utter disaster.

Then he sat himself at the piano and began playing the soft chords that was the opening to his love song, the piano kind of mirroring ‘Jingle Bells’ but not quite committing to it. Then he began singing.

_Oh, Lord, it's been a year_  
_With little joys and little fears_  
_It's finally here, Christmas day_  
_My love, I need some hope_  
_A little faith, a hand to hold_  
_It's awfully cold, Christmas day_

_Watch the snow fall down like me sometimes_  
_But you pick me up and then pick me up again_  
_Like the winter leaves I can't survive_  
_Without your light_

_Thank you for your smile_  
_It's warmer than the fire_  
_Your gentle laughter_  
_Is sweeter than a choir_  
_I'll never know_  
_The right words to choose_  
_So all I can say_  
_Is thank you_

He looked up from the piano and saw that it had been enough to get the guy out of bed. He was stalking his way over, like the predator that he truly was, slow and confident, that dangerous look in his eye that said that Tony was either going to be rewarded or punished. Tony hoped that he would be rewarded. He nimbly sat himself next to Tony on the piano bench, nudging his arm, trying to distract him from his song. Tony smiled at him and told him to wait, continuing to sing and play.

_We fell into the snow_  
_And talked about growing old_  
_So here's to a hundrеd more Christmas days_  
_This house will be our homе_  
_And my heart will be your own_  
_As the candles glow, Christmas day_

_Watch the snow fall down like you sometimes_  
_But I'll pick you up and then pick you up again_  
_Like our winter tree on Christmas night_  
_It needs some light_

_Thank you for your smile_  
_It's warmer than the fire_  
_Your gentle laughter_  
_Is sweeter than a choir_  
_I'll never know_  
_The right words to choose_  
_So the least I can say_  
_Is thank you_

“Thank you, love,” Tony told the light of his life after he played the final chord with a flourish. “Merry Christmas.”

Tony picked him up and hugged him close, raining kisses on his face. Stoically, he put up with it, knowing that Tony would let him go soon enough. When Tony finally released him, he shook his head and huffed out an annoyed chuff that Tony could tell was mostly affection, and then he walked over the piano keys, causing the piano to plink in cute dissonance, as if he was a feline Philip Glass.

“You’re fucking adorable, thank you for being you, Tom,” Tony scratched the top of his head, between his ears, and he started purring, laying down on the piano keys to enjoy the love Tony was lavishing on him.

Thomas Magnum startled when Tony’s front door opened. Tom was extremely territorial and disliked it when anyone came to invade Tony’s apartment. But there was only one exception to this rule, which was why he relaxed when he saw who it was, his tail batting Tony’s face as if to show Tony who was the boss in the house, as he stood up and jumped off the piano to greet the newcomer with soft meows and rubbing his body all over the only other legs (other than Tony’s) that he approved of.

“Hey, babe,” Tony smiled at his lover. “Merry Christmas. How’s Ducky?”

Gibbs sighed, those beloved blue eyes softening as he bent to pick the gray cat up and kissing the top of Tom’s fuzzy head before he came over and kissed Tony as well, running his fingers through Tony’s hair, down his neck and down his back, as if he were the cat and he needed to renew his scent on Tony and looked at it as a way of reclaiming him. “He’s OK. Missing his mother.”

“Poor Ducky,” Tony sighed.

Ducky’s mother had died earlier in the year and he had not even told them about his loss for a while, because Ducky had always been fiercely protective of his private life. Tony didn’t blame him. With the kind of people that they dealt with at work, it was better not to have anyone know anything about something you cared about. It was safer for everyone involved. But it broke his heart to think of poor Ducky dealing with everything and feeling alone. He’d had to deal with the loss of his own mother all alone, too, and he completely empathized with the elderly medical examiner.

Gibbs went into the kitchen and refreshed his to-go mug with the coffee Tony had just brewed and came back to the living room, just as Tony knew he would. It was why he had brewed the coffee in the first place.

“Play me my song,” Gibbs nudged him gently. “The one you wrote me for Christmas.”

“Are you going to cry again if I play it?”

“I didn’t cry,” Gibbs objected, huffing in annoyance and sounding almost exactly like Thomas, and Tony could see right through him as well. Well, OK maybe Gibbs hadn’t exactly cried, but it had been close. He had been _very_ touched by the song. Tony had been well rewarded for sharing the song with him. And by that, he meant that the orgasms that came after had been well worth it. Five out of five Tonys highly recommended them; and Tony would absolutely do it again.

“Uh-huh,” Tony agreed, looking as innocent as he could, and Gibbs shoved his arm as he plunked himself down on the piano bench next to Tony, right where Tom had been not a few minutes ago. Tony couldn’t believe how many parallels there were between his gray cat and his silver fox. Speaking of the cat, Tom jumped onto the closed top of the baby grand, sitting himself down where he could gaze upon his humans.

Giving Gibbs a coy look, Tony began softly playing the opening chords again, vaguely reminiscent of ‘Jingle Bells’ humming softly until he began to sing again. Before he lost himself in the song, he exchanged a look with Tom. Good thing Thomas was good at keeping secrets. It was between him and the cat who the song had actually been written for. The song applied to Gibbs, too, so what was the harm in it being a joint Christmas gift, right?

Tony could’ve sworn that Thomas winked at him before both he and Gibbs settled in to listen as Tony sang the song dedicated to the loves of his life.

It was the happiest Tony had ever been and he wouldn’t change a thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Ha! I bet you thought the song was about Gibbs! Well, it kind of is. But also Thomas Magnum, Tony's beloved cat. Who was a gift from Gibbs, so, you know, Gibbs can take credit for Tony's happiness, too. 😝
> 
> Go go go view RPD's [art masterpost](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27939764)! Je t’aime, ma cherie! Thank you for being so supportive of my crackpot ideas, my Elton.
> 
> cutsycat, I hope you enjoyed this story. I had a lot of fun with this one ❤️❤️❤️
> 
> I hope you all click on the link to Pentatonix's original song [Thank You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1IeDyG-pgM) because gosh, it's so beautiful. It made me tear up. And then of course I had to spoil it with the thought that Tony would write a love song for his cat. You can't win them all with me, apparently 🤷🏽♀️😬
> 
> Again, I'm also going to take the time to invite you to sign up for the 2021 NCIS Reverse Bang Challenge! Come and join the fun, if you are writers or artists! Artists can [sign up here](https://ncis-bang.livejournal.com/107865.html), and authors can [sign up here](https://ncis-bang.livejournal.com/108245.html)! 
> 
> I’ll see you all soon! Take care and stay safe. ❤️❤️❤️  
> -j  
> xoxo

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Art for The Least I Can Do Is Thank You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27939764) by [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/pseuds/Red_Pink_Dots)




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